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• It's hard not to laugh when first confronted by
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a Hino truck. After all, fake leopard-skin lino is not exactly the last word in floor coverings, and what about those Captain Fantastic green lamps on the cab roof?
"They'll never catch on," might be a typical reponse, but wasn't something similar said about the early 125cc Honda motorcyles, with their pressed "tin" frames and square-section dampers? Within 10 years Honda was taking the market by storm with OHC 750cc four-cylinder bikes that helped sound the death knell for the British motorcycle industry. There are signs that a similar story is being played out in the passenger car market: it pays not to laugh at Japanese competition.
Hino claims to be the second largest manufacturer in the world after MercedesBenz. Japan's leading car maker, Toyota,
holds a 10.5% equity in the company, but the truck manufacturer's management remain fairly independent.
There are over 50 trucks in the Hino range, some with innovations not yet seen on European vehicles. The company's exports have been hit by the high value of the yen, and exports as a percentage of total sales have fallen from 32% in 1982 to about 15% now. To counter this trend Hino has started to concentrate on the manufacture of Completely Knocked Down (CKD) kits, and is negotiating joint ventures in Thailand, Taiwan, India and Pakistan. An Indonesian subsidiary is supplying CKD kits to Malaysia. Hino is now concentrating its efforts on China and America: in 1984 it became the first Japanese truck manufacturer to enter the massive American market.
Hino has been supplying CKD trucks to J Harris (Assemblers) near Dublin since 1968. They have proved moderately popular in the Emerald Isle, especially the 6x4 and 8 x4 tipper models. The UK importer of the Irish-assembled vehicles is Harris UK in Richmond, North Yorkshire (the original importers, HCV Motor Vehicle Distribution, went under last year). The UK model range comprises the SH283KA 38-tonne 4x2 tractive unit, the FY275 8x4 tipper chassis and, tested here, the FY271 6x4 tipper chassis, fitted with a Kelly alloy body, and Edbro lightweight tipping gear.
The 6x4 was offered to us by David Jackson of Pacific Commercials — one of 18 Hino dealers in the UK. It is a gutsy move for a dealer to put his product where his mouth is, and bear the cost of a Commercial Motor road test on his own demonstrator, so our thanks to him. Our initial impression of the cab is that it is a little too cluttered for European tastes. The over-elaborate front-bumper mirror is a Japanese legal requirement. We found it fussy, although the forward position of the side mirrors that results, gives very good views down the nearside of the vehicle. The three green lights are wired to come on at various speeds in Japan so speeding trucks are immediately apparent to the police. For the more phlegmatic Irish and UK markets the lamps are wired into the side light circuit, where they still give the Hino the appearance of a refugee from the set of Fritz Lang's "Metropolis".
Nowadays most tipper bodies are of the smooth-sided variety, but the Kelly-built alloy tipping body had pronounced reinforcing square-section supports, which no doubt catch the wind as much as they